Crash and Burn
by xTie on Wings
Summary: If you need to crash then crash and burn you're not alone. Post 03x13. Slightly AU. One-shot. Jaria.


Summary: If you need to crash then crash and burn you're not alone. Post 03x13. Slightly AU. One-shot. Jaria.

Need to knows: Since I think that Ezra's appearance on the train was just a red herring, I decided to write this fanfic to where he didn't show up on the train, thus why it's slightly AU. I tried to make this realistic as possible and stay true to the characters so I hope you all enjoy it :-)

_.- -" "- -._

{ _"...=-... } {.. .-=..."_}

xSinner in the Saint  
presents  
Crash and Burn  
A Pretty Little Liars Fan-Fiction

{_.."… … … … … … …""(_}

Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars or the lyrics to 'Crash and Burn' by Savage Garden.

And without further ado…

**Crash and Burn**

It was as if he was the one the body bag surrounded by a sea of ice cubes. Chills raged down his spine as the mechanical motion of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide evaded him. Gorgeous green absorbed the shocking sight paralyzing and freezing him where he stood, his feet mere feet away from hers. A room full of links to his sister- her friends, her advisories, her loves, her victims- stood around watching with shocked whispers of 'oh my god' and gasps but all he could hear is the blood pounding in his ears. He doesn't even hear himself whisper her name, pain and anguish swirling in a haunted echo.

"Alison."

This was what he wanted. This is why he'd gotten onto this god forsaken train. To find Ali… but not like this… not in a very public coffin turned cooler where heaven only knew how many people had pulled drinks from- how many people's hands were mere inches above his sister, his hand included. Now it's shaking uncontrollably, his entire body jumping with nerves as compulsion caused him to move take a step towards her and reach down to her. The tips of his fingers barely brush the polyethylene fabric of the body bag when he feels the warmth of a hand through the fabric of his jacket shocking him out of his out-of-body experience and back into his body.

He expected it to be Spencer. She was always looking out for him. She was his protector… a role he knew he should have stepped into for her as the older brother. But he'd been failing her as of late, like he'd failed Ali. Green orbs flicker up expecting to find her there, saving him once again, but it's not her. It's Aria Montgomery.

Even as the world around him spiraled out of control, the mere touch of her hand drew him away from the world that spun madly on. Back to his feet, he shifts turning to face her in the process. Her hand slipped from his shoulder and down onto his forearm but she didn't dare break the connection. If the traumatic experiences of the night taught her anything, it was that your friends are your greatest allies and- despite their questionable past- she wanted to be a friend to him now.

They didn't talk; their eyes just locked and for a moment- a moment that seemed to last much longer than most moment's do- he forgot the world around and drowned in those green orbs flecked with blue and gold hues. But he broke the connection eyes slowly slipping down to her bandaged wrist and time gradually awoke again and sluggishly moves on. His eyes flicker back to the body still on the floor and the desire to be anywhere but there quickly turns to action.

His feet carried him past the rest of the bystanders in the room. He moved so mechanically towards the door that he didn't even feel Spencer's hands reach out towards him. He just pushes on past… past her, past the guards, and out the door into the next car then off the train before he collapses down onto his knees, the dead drop of weight onto the cement platform guaranteed to leave bruises the next morning but the pain that swelled in his heart was so immense he was numb to physical pain.

It wasn't the first time he'd lost his sister- wasn't the first time they'd found her- but it was the first time he hadn't steeled himself to it. It snuck up like a thief in the night and he may have her body but it doesn't fill the hole in his heart where she used to be, doesn't bring her back. It doesn't. Tears spill freely now dropping down onto cement and leaving a little puddle.

"Jason? Jason."

His name reverberates in his ear drums and he finds a bit of strength to lift his head. Past the police cars strewn across the parking lot and on both sides of the platform, his eyes scanned the bright, flashing reds and blues causing him to squint in search of the nearing figure of Ella Montgomery. With her daughter being injured and traumatized, it didn't surprise him she was one of first mothers on scene but what did was the concern in her eyes. He barely knew this woman but what he knew he really liked; she warm, compassionate, caring, and understanding… everything he imagines a mother should be and he desperately needed someone like that, right now. Sinking down to the height he knelt at, her hands rest on his shoulders, warm chocolate orbs looking at him with genuine concern.

"Jason, what's wrong," she asks, that sincerity bathing him in that warm glow only mothers can provide.

"Ali's body," he manages to choke out, Adam's apple bobbing roughly as he tries to swallow the lump in his throat. "On the train."

Terror bled in the woman's eyes as they flickered up to the train, this nightmare of a night was going to be the death of her. She flickers her attention back towards the still distraught Jason, and shifted a comforting hand onto his cheek. His head crooked towards the warmth of her hand, that comforting touch lulling him into a sense of security.

"Jason, honey, I can't begin to imagine how hard this has been on you but you've found her. _You found her_." The words gradually sunk in and permeated his brain. He nods understanding the truth behind her words but then she hit him with something he didn't agree with. "It's over now."

She realizes it shining in his eyes the moment she added that it was over now. An inner turmoil rips through the light in his eyes and they seem to darken multiple shades. He doesn't believe it's over, and judging by the way he catches her tone shift, she didn't either. He breaks the lock their eyes had formed and stammers something about driving home. Immediately, the mother in her draws his attention back.

"Stay here," she commands her voice stern yet soft like only a mother's can. "I'm going to get Aria then we're all going back to my apartment."

There's a protest on the tip of his tongue but Ella wasn't the kind of person who could just turn someone away in their darkest hour. She also knew that even though he was in his twenties, he was still someone's kid with nobody to run to. So she holds up a dismissive hand to stop him before he could even start to mount a protest. "Nobody should be alone after what you just went through, Jason."

Alone. One word, five letters, and two syllables that deep down everyone fears. All Jason's life, he's been alone or at least felt he was alone so he surrounded himself by sham friends and diluted himself enough to believe it to be true. But his sham friends were dead now and he was more alone than ever. So he wasn't compelled to bat away a hand offering to pull him from the emptiness. He was tired of feeling alone. So he nods in agreement and climbs to his feet and says in such a tone that she wonders if anyone's ever cared for him, "thank you, Ella."

xXx  
Let me be the one you call.  
If you jump I'll break your fall,  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night.  
xXx

The horrific events of the night replayed in his mind, the horrors of her decaying body beneath painted vividly by his imagination, jolted him from his nightmares. Into the upright position he shoots eyes wide with a mixture of alarm and horror. The damp throw clings to his trembling body, sweat dripping from over-heated skin. Haunted green surveys the surroundings, a tired mind taking a moment to remember he's sleeping on Ella Montgomery's couch. While heavy breaths burst into the darkened night air, a firm hand takes him by the shoulder, another cupping his face and drawing his attention towards hers. Aria Montgomery. Again, she draws him back, the ray of light amongst the darkness.

"You okay?" she asks after his erratic breaths regulate.

He doesn't answer her right away, the automated yes that usually follows chocked on because he never wants to lie to her. His eyes drop down to avert her gaze and unintentionally lock onto the bandage around her wrist. He shutters to think of the events that transpired throughout the night, how close she was to losing her. Reaching out he delicate takes hold of her writs on the bandage and either side of the large cut.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he asks in response. A sudden pang of anger for the prick that'd done this to her, that maybe had something to do with Alison, pulled him out of the tangled up blanket and her touch onto his feet.

"I'm fine," she answers, lying to herself more than to him.

"Sure you are," he says turning back towards her. She was sitting on the edge of the couch still so he turned back towards her changing the dynamic of the night. "Look, I'm not going to pretend I understand. Nobody's going to understand what you've been through tonight but you've got people in your life that are willing to try and be there for you the," he declares, voice full of conviction as he kneels down before her taking her hand into his. "People like me, if you want that is."

Those beautiful green windows into his soul swirl with sincerity and she finds herself telling him about the night, about the horror she felt in that crate and how she believed she was going to die then she found herself pausing a moment, a tear slipping. As soon as it begins to fall, his calloused fingertip wipes it away and then he shifts onto the couch pulling her into his protective embrace. Then she chokes out into his chest, "and every time I close my eyes I'm afraid that when I open them I'll be back in that crate."

"That's not going to happen," he declares, the firmness of his voice attempting to rid her of doubt.

Lifting her head from his chest she asks, "Promise?"

"Promise," he assures, reaching over and taking his blanket and spreading it over her. "In fact, I'll be here to make sure of it."

Resting her head back down on his chest, she whispers, "Thank you, Jason."

Bobbing his head down so that his chin brushed against her hair, he whispers, "Goodnight Aria."

xXx  
If you need to fall apart,  
I can mend a broken heart.  
If you need to crash then crash and burn,  
You're not alone.  
xXx

The End.  
Review!


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